Sofia the First: The Floating Palace
Sofia the First: The Floating Palace is a special that aired on November 24, 2013, on the Disney Channel as a Family Night special event. Overview Sofia's family go on a royal vacation to Merroway Cove, where Sofia befriends a mermaid princess named Oona. The Amulet of Avalor transforms Sofia into a mermaid, allowing her to explore Oona's world. Determined to get Oona's enchanted comb, Cedric turns himself into a sea monster and kidnaps Oona, triggering a confrontation between the merpeople and Sofia's family. Sofia goes on an underwater quest to find Oona and restore the friendship between humans and merfolk. Plot Somewhere travelling across the sea aboard a boat known as The Floating Palace, Sofia is in the library reading a story when the Royal Family of Enchancia arrives at a tropical island known as Merroway Cove for a vacation. Sofia asks if they'll meet any mermaids, but Roland and Admiral Hornpipe, the ship's arrogant captain, both tell her merpeople are not real. Also accompanying the Royal Family is Cedric, who is out on another scheme to take over the kingdom, only this time he's not after the Amulet of Avalor like he usually is. This time, he's after the Mermaid Comb of Merroway Cove, a mystical item that gives hydrokinetic powers so strong, the comb's bearer has the power of the ocean in his or her hands. To get it, he takes a boat to a cave and transforms himself into a sea monster and Wormwood into a squid. Meanwhile, Sofia meets up with Clover, and together they head down to the swimming platform where they meet a mermaid whose just Sofia's age, only a little bigger. She gets trapped in a net. Sofia pulls her onto the platform and gets her out of the net. Sofia introduces herself to the mermaid, who introduces herself as Oona. The two girls become fast friends. Oona is fascinated by the Floating Palace, which is why she came up to the surface. Sofia's amulet starts to glow, which Oona notices. When Oona asks what the glow means, Sofia for once tells the truth about her amulet: It's a mystical item. Oona tells her that the comb she's wearing in her hair is also a mystical item, but she doesn't know what it's powers are because her mother refuses to tell her because she thinks Oona's not old enough to be entrusted with such responsibility yet. When Oona gets back in the water, she discovers her fin was hurt by the net. Sofia takes off her shoes so she can slide her feet into the water and help her. However, the moment Sofia slips her feet into the water, she transforms into a mermaid, to the shock of Sofia, Clover, and Oona, who asks "Sofia, how'd you do that?" Remembering the glow her new friend saw earlier and the amulet's rule, Sofia recites the Amulet of Avalor's rule to Oona: "With each deed performed, for better or worse, a power is granted, a blessing or curse." Sofia then explains what it means: when she does something helpful , her amulet will bless her with a magical power or ability. Since she helped Oona out when she was in trouble, the amulet gave her the power to transform into a mermaid and gain Mermish abilities and back. All this makes Sofia squeal "I can swim in the water like a mermaid!" with delight and she happily hops into the water to the concern of both Clover and Oona. Sofia sinks down a few fathoms before she finally opens her eyes and squeals "This is incredible!" with delight and she starts swimming at lightning speed before returning to the surface, to Oona's relief. Sofia decides to use her new powers to escort Oona home. Meanwhile, Clover meets a seagull named Farley, who tries to make off with a bag of blueberries that Clover had marked as his lunch. A battle erupts between them. The brawling causes the blueberries to spill overboard and gets them stuck in a lifesaver in a way that makes Farley say "This is awkward." Sofia escorts Oona to the bottom of the cove where all the sights make Sofia squeal with delight. Oona shows Sofia a shipwreck she uses as her hideaway where she keeps all her treasures. Suddenly, a seahorse appears and calls out for Oona, prompting Oona to try and hide Sofia. Sofia asks why they're hiding and Oona states "That's Sven. He's my friend, but he gets very suspicious around strangers." Sven heads into Oona's hideaway and finds the two girls. Sven asks Oona "Where have you been?" and when he sees Sofia states "And who is this? I have not seen you in the cove before." Sofia, whose unused to being so easily noticeable both because of her introverted nature and the fact people don't pay attention to her for more than five seconds, can only give a sheepish "no" and giggle. Oona intervenes on her friend's behalf by stating "She's, uh, visiting from another colony. I hurt my fin and she helped me get back." When he hears this, Sven panics and states Oona must see the doctor right away as an older mermaid appears and asks "See the doctor about what?" Upon hearing about Oona's hurt fin, the mermaid proceeds to examine her fin and reveals Sofia had nothing to worry about: It turns out her injury is so minor it can be treated with some moon kelp. While Sven leaves to go get the moon kelp, Oona introduces Sofia to the mermaid, who is her big sister Cora. When Sven gets back with the moon kelp, Cora bandages Oona's fin with it and leaves. Oona moans with embarrassment that her sister treats her like a merbaby. Sofia gives an "Hmm." that tells Oona she completely understands how she feels due to having similar issues with her own family. When Sofia asks where the other merpeople live, Oona and Sven, through a song, give her a tour of the cove. Unbeknownst to Sofia, she and Oona are both being watched by Sea Monster Cedric and Wormwood the Squid, who recognize Oona's comb as the mystical item they seek. When he sees Sofia, he states "Is that who I think it is?!" and upon recognizing her states "Ooh, it's the Princess all right. I don't know how she turned herself into a mermaid, but she will not stop me from getting that magical Mermaid Comb!" Suddenly, the Floating Palace appears overhead. Cora appears and tells Oona their mother wants them back at the Coral Castle. Sofia follows the two mersisters to the Coral Castle, where she meets their mother, Queen Emmaline, the ruler of Merroway Cove, and her chief adviser, Plank. When they ask Sofia who she is, Oona tells them Sofia is her new friend. It's revealed that the merpeople in Merroway Cove think humans are dangerous because many years ago when a ship entered the cove the sailors onboard tried to capture one of the colony's inhabitants and most of the merpeople were hurt, which is why they avoid going up to the surface. Sofia tries to tell them they mean no harm, but Queen Emmaline, thinking she's a mermaid and able to tell that she's a child since she's smaller than Oona, simply tells her that she's too young to know what humans are capable of. Plank urges Queen Emmaline to use her trident to create a storm to move the ship out of the cove. Cora is the only one who supports this plan. Sven and Queen Emmaline view the plan as too reckless and irresponsible because it might sink the ship, Sofia because her family is on that ship and they might drown if the plan is executed, and Oona because she knows the truth about Sofia and what Sofia knows, are all against the plan. Sofia insists on a more peaceful plan: She offers to go up and convince them to move the ship on their own. When Queen Emmaline and Plank ask her how she would do that since they think she's a mermaid, Sofia reveals the truth: She's really a human who has transformed into a mermaid and the ship up there belongs to her family. The entire mercolony is shocked by Sofia's revelation except Oona, who knew all along. When Plank and Cora start acting negatively toward Sofia, Oona and Sven swim forward and defend her by telling everyone how Sofia helped Oona when she was hurt. Sofia gives the Mermaid Queen her word that the ship will leave immediately and Emmaline demands that she never return afterwards. Sofia is hurt by her command because it means she can never see Oona again, but she agrees with her wishes and says goodbye to Oona. Sven tries to assure Emmaline that Sofia will do what she says, but Plank says "No one asked you, Sven." Sven tries to protest, but Oona states "It doesn't matter what we say, Sven. It's not like anyone listens." Oona, who could tell how hurt Sofia really was by her mother's words, goes after her and apologizes for how her mother, Cora, and Plank acted. Sofia shrugs it off as nothing and gives Oona a loving hug before she sadly and slowly continues to head back to the ship. Suddenly, trouble erupts for both girls: As Oona is swimming home, she is attack by Sea Monster Cedric. Sofia is about to climb back onboard the ship when she hears Oona calling for help. Sofia dives back into the ocean to help her mermaid friend but the sea monster swats a school of fish in her way preventing Sofia from intervening. Oona flees into the kelp forest but gets ambushed by Wormwood the Squid and gets captured by the monster. Sofia finally arrives in the kelp forest and calls out for Oona to no avail. Sofia realizes that she's too late and that the sea monster kidnapped Oona and heads back to the colony and tells Queen Emmaline what happened. Plank states that it's a trick, stating there's no sea monsters in Merroway Cove, prompting Sofia to protest "But I saw it!" Plank ignores her and states that Sofia's family must've taken Oona captive and sent "the girl" back to lie to them, prompting Sofia to protest "That's not true!" but again Plank ignores her and urges Queen Emmaline to use her trident to conjure a storm fierce enough to sink the ship, prompting Sofia to protest with a resounding "NO!" Convinced that Plank is right, Queen Emmaline demands that Sofia convince her family to return her daughter at once or she will do as Plank suggests. Realizing that bringing Oona back is the only way to prove her family's innocence, Sofia asks the Mermaid Queen to give her time to get Oona back herself and Queen Emmaline tells her she has until sundown. If Oona is not back by then, Emmaline will sink the Floating Palace and drown the Enchancia Royal Family. Sven goes after Sofia and tells her he believes her because he could tell she was being sincere the whole time and urges her to get help from her ship. On the ship, it turns out Sofia's family hasn't even noticed that she's gone and are only just now noticing, but they all assume that she must've gone back to her room to finish her book. When Sofia gets back on-board, she heads immediately to her family and Admiral Hornpipe and tells them about Oona's abduction and her mother's threat to sink the Floating Palace. They all scornfully laugh in her face and tell her she must've fallen asleep while reading her book and dreamt it except, unbeknownst to Sofia, Miranda, who can tell that she's being sincere. When Admiral Hornpipe states "Either she dreamt it or she's making it up." Miranda angrily defends her daughter by stating "Sofia doesn't make things up." But Amber unintentionally pushes her little sister past the point of no return by stating she's sure she does by saying "she's always pretending to talk to that bunny of hers." Sofia, hurt by her family's scornful remarks, and finally having had enough of trying to tell others the truth only to be accused of being a liar by everyone but her animal friends, decides it's now up to her and her animal friends to find and rescue Oona. She frees Clover and Farley, who turns out to be a friend of Oona's, from the lifesaver and tells the latter to take to the skies and look for Oona. Farley finds Oona and leads Sofia, Clover, and Sven there. Upon arrival, Sofia finds out that the monster, who she doesn't know is Cedric, knows magic and is after Oona's comb. Sofia tries to save Oona by herself, but Cedric is too powerful for her and she fails. Meanwhile, Queen Emmaline gets tired of waiting for Oona to come back and conjures a storm with her trident. Sofia, meanwhile, sits on a rock in her mermaid form, finally feeling that all hope is lost and gives in to despair: She failed to save Oona and knows the monster will kill her mermaid friend the second he gets her comb, and her family will be drowned for a crime they never committed and she feels she can't get help because so far, everyone she told the truth to didn't believe her. She might as well stay in her mermaid form permanently since she can't go back to Enchancia without her family. Sven urges her to go back to the colony and tell Queen Emmaline they found Oona but Sofia, still sick of such efforts because of what her family and Admiral Hornpipe said, refuses, stating that it's a waste of time because Queen Emmaline and her subjects will never trust a human enough to believe her. As Sofia gives up and starts to cry, the Amulet of Avalor starts to glow and Ariel appears. Through a song, Ariel tells Sofia she can still save Oona by enlisting Cora to help by showing the mermaid she cares for Oona as much as she does and vanishes. Sofia finally finds someone who believes her: Sven tells Cora that Sofia's story is true and Sofia tells her of her findings. Hearing this, Cora tells Sofia what powers the comb gives its current bearer and she agrees to help. Meanwhile, as the storm rages over the Floating Palace, Plank convinces Queen Emmaline to make it stronger by turning it into a typhoon, but Sven and his family intervene before it gets too fierce and takes Emmaline and a stubborn and deluded Plank to where Oona is being held. Meanwhile, the storm makes the rest of Sofia's family finally realize that Sofia was right all along except a stubborn Roland, who dismisses the storm as a little squall, despite being somewhat unnerved by the thunder and lightning. Miranda sends Baileywick out to bring Sofia to her only for him to come back and tell her that Sofia's gone, to the family's horror. Working together, Sofia and Cora save Oona and defeat Cedric with the power of Oona's comb. Sofia, Cora, and Oona meet up with Queen Emmaline and Plank, who both apologize to Sofia for their behavior, and using the trident, Emmaline stops the storm. While she does this, she gets seen by Roland and Admiral Hornpipe, forcing the pair to accept that Sofia was right all along. Sofia reunites with her family, who apologize for what they said to her. Despite not truly forgiving them, Sofia accepts their apologies because she's relieved that her family's all right. She then takes them down to meet the merfolk and they all become friends and Sofia and Oona are allowed to remain friends forever. Meanwhile, a defeated Cedric returns to the Floating Palace and turns himself and Wormwood back to normal. Home Video Release *Sofia the First: The Floating Palace DVD Songs *Merroway Cove *The Love We Share Cast *Ariel Winter as Sofia *Sara Ramirez as Queen Miranda *Wayne Brady as Clover *Tim Gunn as Baileywick *Darcy Rose Byrnes as Princess Amber *Zach Callison as Prince James *Travis Willingham as King Roland II *Kiernan Shipka as Oona *Jodi Benson as Ariel and Queen Emmaline *Jeff Bennett as Farley *John Ross Bowie as Sven *Phil Morris as Plank *Sarah Mitchell as Cora *Jess Harnell as Cedric *Jim Cummings as Wormwood Transcript Sofia the First: The Floating Palace Transcript Trivia *This is the second time a Disney Princess shows up in a special (Cinderella) and the second special of the show (Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess). There are also similarities especially between these two meetings: **Sofia covers her eyes in despair seconds before her amulet glows and a glow is seen where the summoned princess will appear. **Both state that the amulet summoned them to help. **The princesses (Sofia and the summon) take a stroll (or a swim) in both cases. **The meetings include a musical number, and both hint on what Sofia should do to set things right and the one person (Princess Amber and Cora) she should converse with to get started. **The strolls end in a doorway to a "room" where an older girl is sulking (Princess Amber and Cora). **In the last word of the musical number the summoned princess and Sofia are in the same position in both cases, with Sofia facing the doorway and the princess right behind her, hands rested on the former's shoulders and as Sofia turns round to thank her, the princess had magically disappeared leaving behind a cloud of shimmering stars. **As Sofia meets the girl, they respond negatively at first until Sofia declares her mission to her. Both missions also involve a confrontation with Cedric or at least Wormwood with both girls working together. *This is the third time Sofia undergoes a magical transformation. In "Cedric's Apprentice", she became a lizard. In "The Amulet and the Anthem", her voice became that of a frog. *This is the second time Sofia strengthens ties between her family and supernatural creatures. Before, it was the trolls in the episode "Let The Good Times Troll". *Ariel is the fourth Disney Princess to assist Sofia. **The first was Cinderella in Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess. **The second was Jasmine in "Two to Tangu". **The third was Belle in "The Amulet and the Anthem". *Ariel is the first princess to not to be seen in her redesign as she was in her mermaid form. The second, might be Mulan in Princesses to the Rescue. *When Oona asks what kind of animal Clover is, he says "I'm a Blue Ribbon Bunny," a reference to the song and the seventh episode. *Oona, in many ways, is similar to Sofia: Both are their kingdon's second princess and it's Royal family's youngest member, both have mystical items that give them powers which they can't use to their full poteniall because of lack of training and experience, both recieved these items from one of their parents, the parent they recieve it from is their kingdom's current ruler, both prefer to do things themselves, both despise being mollycoddled, both have older sisters who are their kingdom's first princess and it current ruler's eldest child, both are precocious, and both are rarlyy listened to or taken serious because of how young and small they are. *The timeline of the series seems to be falling into a year since Sofia became a princess. Jade stated in "The Little Witch" that Lucinda arrived a few months after Sofia left. "Princess Butterfly" took place on Halloween, "Great Aunt-Venture" in November (most likely) and now a vacation, followed by winter holidays. *This is the second episode where Cedric doesn't go after the Amulet, the first episode was "Tea for Too Many". *Cedric undergoes a magical transformation for the first time in the series and so does Wormwood. *This is the second time Cedric doesn't go after the Amulet of Avalor *This is Cedric's last appearance in the first season. * Oona is the only one Sofia willingly revels the truth about her amulet to. * Oona and Sven are the only ones who know the truth about Sofia's amulet. The other merfolk know about Sofia's powers but not the source. Category:Episodes Category:Hour-Long Specials Category:Disney Princess Episodes Category:Special episodes Category:Amulet Summoning